


sail

by boyknees



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 00:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6064225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boyknees/pseuds/boyknees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>best friends baekhyun and jongdae accidentally become v.i.p.s on a luxury couples' cruise, and more than one ship sails</p>
            </blockquote>





	sail

It’s not like Baekhyun is stupid or anything. He just has a listening problem; one that means he only listens to very few people. Such people include: 

1\. His mother, because he’s not a heathen and he loves his mother. 

2\. Jongdae. This mostly just comes with best friend territory. If Jongdae can listen to everything Baekhyun has to say, Baekhyun thinks it’s only fair that he return the favor.

Notably, someone not on the list of people he gives his full attention to, is the lady he’s currently on the phone with. He’s not even pretending to listen because most of his attention is focused on this eBay bid he’s monitoring. There are only a few minutes left and he really _really_ wants to win.

He’s watching the timer countdown when he hears the words, “free” and “all-inclusive” and “luxury cruise.” 

_Wait, what?_ Baekhyun tears his eyes away from his computer screen. “Did you say I won an all-inclusive luxury cruise trip?” _Luxury!_ No one believes him but Baekhyun is built for a life of luxury. 

There’s a slight pause on the other end before the lady hesitantly asks, “This is Mr. Byun, isn’t it?”

Baekhyun glances at his computer screen and sees he’s still fine. He’s pretty sure he’s bid too much for any last minute bidders to swoop in and outbid him, but he’s a last minute swooper too so he knows to be wary. “Yes, I’m Baekhyun.”

The lady returns to the cheerful tone she had been using before Baekhyun had interrupted her, and launches into a spiel about how he has indeed won a free, all-inclusive luxury cruise trip for two people. He promptly tunes out after that because he has the gist of it. All-inclusive luxury cruise! What else did he need to know?

He doesn’t remember signing up for a giveaway where this is the winning prize, but it does sound like something he would do. Who doesn’t like free stuff?

His computer beeps out an alert and he scowls when he sees that the bidding is over and he lost. What the hell, eBay user thundercat21? Who spends five hundred and one dollars on a candle set! 

“Sir?” 

Baekhyun scowls once more before he closes the window. Fuck thundercat21. He was obviously a loser because no normal person would spend that much money on a candle set. Plus while thundercat21 was enjoying his lame scented candles, he was going to be enjoying himself on a cruise.

⚓

In retrospect, Baekhyun should have known something was up. He hadn’t bothered to read the mini package of information he had received when he went to claim his prize and he probably should have. But there were definitely a lot of other signs that he should have picked up on.

The lady at the office had asked him who his partner would be, and he had briefly thought that partner was a strange word to use, but he figured maybe it was some kind of cruise lingo, so he had given her Jongdae’s name and rattled off all the information she needed. 

He’d paused when she asked how long they had been seeing each other, and Baekhyun really _isn’t_ stupid and if he had just been paying attention and not been distracted by the happy people on the glossy cover of the pamphlet with the cruise information, he would have picked up on what an odd question that was. 

“Eleven years,” he had answered instead, opening up the pamphlet. His eyes widen when he sees a picture of what their suite will look like. This had to be angles, right? There’s no way their room is that big. It was a _ship_. How could a ship have that much space?

“Oh wow, long timers,” the lady had cooed, looking pleased. “I’m sure the two of you are going to love this trip.” 

“Jongdae is going to love this,” Baekhyun agreed, his eyes skimming over the information. “Hold on. Does this say we get a butler?”

“Yes. You and your partner are one of five V.I.P couples so you get your own butler.”

When Baekhyun looks back on this conversation, he remembers that she had specifically said the word ‘couple’ but he had just been too taken aback by the idea of Jongdae and him having their very own butler. 

“What would we need a butler for?”

“All sorts of things,” the lady answered cheerfully. “He’d make your reservations for dinner, assist you with packing and unpacking, expedite your laundry.” She laughed airily. “He would even draw you a bubble bath if you wanted.” 

It seemed a little excessive to Baekhyun. The cruise was eleven days, did they really need to _do_ laundry? But Baekhyun likes the idea of being pampered and if this was part of the package he had won, it’s not like he was going to complain.

Forget Jongdae loving the trip, he was going to love _Baekhyun_.

⚓

“We definitely need to take the ship tour later on,” Jongdae says as Baekhyun fumbles with the keycard to get into their suite. “This ship is huge. We’ll never find anything.”

Baekhyun is relieved when the light turns from red to green and the card reader gives out a little chirp. He opens the door and even though he’s seen pictures of their suite, he’s still stunned. 

“Whoa,” Jongdae breathes out over Baekhyun’s shoulder. 

“This suite is bigger than my entire apartment,” Baekhyun says in awe. 

“Okay, but a shoebox is bigger than your entire apartment so that’s not a fair comparison.” Jongdae nudges Baekhyun inside. “This is huge,” he admits, glancing around. “We have a balcony!”

“I know.” Baekhyun tries to take it all in because he’s pretty sure he’s never been in a nicer place than this suite. It could comfortably fit a family of four, more possibly, and the idea that Jongdae and he have it all to themselves is bordering on ridiculous. His jaw drops when he sees the bed. “Oh my god, look at this bed.” 

He kicks off his shoes and very ungracefully, drops down on the bed. “This is what lying on a cloud must be like.” 

“Baek, we are going to have the most amazing view once we set sail,” Jongdae says from where he has wandered over to the balcony door and unlocked it. 

Baekhyun wriggles his way to the centre of the bed and he can’t believe how much more bed there’s still left. _No one_ could possibly need a bed this big. Probably not even seven-feet tall basketball players, and definitely not under-six-feet-tall Baekhyun and Jongdae. 

“Jongdae, come sit here. Seriously, it’s like a cloud.” 

Jongdae steps out of his shoes and squirms his way next to Baekhyun. “This bed is ridiculous,” he laughs, moving closer so their shoulders are pressed together. 

“So ridiculous,” Baekhyun says, laughing too. He puts an arm around Jongdae’s waist and sighs in contentment. “Let’s just spend the entire trip cuddling. There’s no way anything else on this ship is nicer than this suite.”

“We could have cuddled back home,” Jongdae protests, although he doesn’t move to push Baekhyun away.

“Liar. You are totally averse to cuddling when we’re on land.”

“Because you only want to cuddle when you’re drunk or you’ve broken up with someone. Either way, it’s when you’re messy and _wet_.”

“Cuddling with your best friend is an effective method of comfort when one is dealing with the break up blues,” Baekhyun says indignantly, poking Jongdae in the calf with his foot. “It’s…what? What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong,” Jongdae replies, sounding unsure, as he lifts himself up on his elbows. “It’s just…why is there only one bed?”

“What?” Baekhyun sits up, and frowns when he looks around he finds out that Jongdae is right. There _is_ only one bed. “That’s weird.”

“I mean, I guess we can always ask for—” Jongdae is interrupted by a knock on their door. 

Baekhyun perks up. “Maybe that’s our butler,” he says, hopping off the bed— or crawling off it if he was being more accurate. The bed wasn’t very good for hopping on or off. “He’ll help us figure out the bed thing.”

A man with light brown hair, holding a clipboard, greets him with a sunny smile when he opens the door. “Hello, my name is Junmyeon,” he says, holding out a hand. 

Baekhyun shakes his hand, dubiously. He doesn’t _look_ like a butler? Though it’s not like he even knows what real butlers look like outside of TV. But surely TV wasn’t lying about butlers…

“I’m your cruise director for this trip.”

Okay, that makes more sense. Junmyeon definitely looked more cruise director-esque. Did cruise directors go door to door greeting all the guests on the ship? It was a huge ship. “Hi, I’m Baekhyun.” 

“Of course, Mr. Byun.” Junmyeon flashes him another smile. “You’re one of our five V.I.P couples. I just wanted to come personally welcome you since I didn’t get a chance to earlier. I was busy with the other guests.”

Did he says couples?

Jongdae comes up behind Baekhyun and offers Junmyeon a confused smile. “What’s going on?” he asks Baekhyun quietly.

“This is our cruise director,” Baekhyun says. A weird feeling starts to come over him and he knows something is wrong. 

“Oh, this must be…Mr. Kim,” Junmyeon reads off his clipboard before he returns Jongdae’s smile. “I see here that the two of you have been together for eleven years.” 

Baekhyun frowns because something is definitely off, but he just can’t quite figure out what. 

Jongdae looks just as puzzled. “Yes,” he says reluctantly, stepping up so he’s next to Baekhyun. “We’ve known each other since we were kids.” 

Junmyeon looks like he’s going to combust from excitement at this information. “Childhood sweethearts!” he exclaims. “How lovely. Is this your first cruise trip together?”

Oh. My. God. Of course there was only one bed, this was a vacation package for couples. They hadn’t _said_ anything about couples! Had they? They probably had. Baekhyun should have paid more attention or at least read that stupid mini-package.

“What?” Jongdae looks alarmed. “We’re not dating. He’s…” He flounders for word but Baekhyun is trying hard to think about what the lady had said about stipulations.

Was not being a couple a stipulation?

“Excuse me?” The smile slips from Junmyeon’s face, and now he looks like he’s struggling to keep his pleasant facade even though it looks strained. “Sirs. This is a trip exclusively for couples. Now if the two of you are not dating, then you will have to disembark at the next port and you will lose V.I.P privileges. This is—”

“We’re engaged,” Baekhyun blurts out. 

“Baekhyun!” Jongdae gapes at him. 

“We’re not dating,” Baekhyun says, stepping closer to Jongdae and resting a hand on his arm. “We’re engaged, so he only meant we’re not _just_ dating.” He gives Junmyeon a bright smile. “And yes, this is our first cruise trip together. We’re so excited.” 

Junmyeon is practically glowing now. “How wonderful,” he says, beaming. “Congratulations!”

“Thanks,” Baekhyun says, his fingers trailing down Jongdae’s arm to find his hand. “I proposed last night before we left for our trip, so he’s still in shock a little. I think he thought I’d never propose.” 

Jongdae narrows his eyes at him but he gives Junmyeon a sweet smile. “Yes, Baekhyun is usually so boring and predictable. I never saw it coming.”

If Junmyeon senses something amiss he doesn’t mention it. “A _newly_ engaged couple,” he says, sighing happily. “There are plenty of romantic activities for the two of you to indulge in. If _I_ can do anything to make your trip better, please just ask. Your butler will be along shortly, he should be able to help make this a very relaxing trip.”

“Thank you,” Jongdae says, squeezing Baekhyun’s hand. Painfully.

⚓

Baekhyun’s plan is simple: just pretend they’re engaged until the cruise is over. He doesn’t see what the big deal is. The one bed isn’t a problem, it’s not like they haven’t shared a bed before and there was plenty of room on this obnoxiously huge bed.

“It’s not like we’re going to have to make out in public or anything,” Baekhyun points out, rolling his eyes at Jongdae who is glaring at him from where he’s seated at the couch. “They probably don’t even expect us to do everything— if _anything_ — together.”

“I think the whole point of a _couples_ cruise is to do things together,” Jongdae says icily. 

“So? We were going to do everything together anyway. It’s not like either of us are going to do something the other one doesn’t like, like go to the gym or something.”

Jongdae snorts. “Who even goes on a cruise to go to the gym?” 

“I know, right!” Baekhyun sidles up next to Jongdae on the couch. “It’s not a big deal, right? We’re just going to laze around by the pool or get massages and stuff, so what if we have to pretend to be a couple for a few days? They’ll kick us off the cruise if we tell them the truth. And that happy guy already thinks we’re engaged anyway.”

“I did want to try the Serenity Haven,” Jongdae admits, grinning. 

Baekhyun laughs. “What’s that?”

“Oh my god, it’s this totally ridiculous-sounding place.” Jongdae’s annoyed expression disappears and he looks excited again. “It has _tranquility stewards_. Can you believe that? They basically give you chilled face towels and fancy water with some douchey names probably, but you can get deep tissue muscle massages and other weird sounding treatments.” 

“That sounds completely unnecessary and yes, we have to do it.” Baekhyun laughs at Jongdae’s pleased face. “So we’re good, right?” 

Jongdae shrugs. “Yeah. I mean, maybe we’ll just have to hold hands once in awhile or whatever. That doesn’t seem like a big deal.” He holds out a hand towards Baekhyun and wriggles his fingers. 

Baekhyun takes it and smiles at the way their fingers entwine together. “Jongdae,” he says seriously, the smile dropping off his face. “This is some masterful handholding.” 

Jongdae moves in close, probably unnecessarily so because he’s right in Baekhyun’s space but Baekhyun doesn’t mind because it’s _Jongdae_. Neither of them respected each other’s personal space much. Baekhyun briefly thinks pretending to be a couple with Jongdae was going to be _so easy_.

“Only the best for my fiancé,” Jongdae says, grinning, before he pulls away.

⚓

Their butler is terrible.

He arrives just as Baekhyun and Jongdae discover the walk-in closets. Closets! _Plural._

They both jump in surprise when he announces his presence by clearing his throat. Apparently he had knocked and they hadn’t heard. He’s holding a tray with a bottle of champagne and two glasses and tray of…something. He dumps the tray unceremoniously on the coffee table 

“Champagne and chocolates to welcome you aboard the Angels Wing cruise,” he says, gesturing at the tray. “My name is Sehun. I will be your butler for the duration of your trip. Please don’t hesitate to ask me for any assistance you may require.” He recites all this looking bored and with a roll of the eyes. 

“Don’t sound too excited,” Baekhyun says. 

“I’m Jongdae,” Jongdae says, walking over to the tray of chocolates. “That’s Baekhyun. It’s nice to meet you.”

Sehun stares at him. “Okay,” he says, before he takes a look around. “Is there anything I can help you with at the moment?” 

“You can unpack our bags?” Baekhyun nods towards their bags near the foot of their bed.

Sehun wrinkles his nose. “It’s just two bags. Can’t you do that yourself? That hardly needs assisting.” 

Baekhyun glares at him because no, he doesn’t really _need_ Sehun to unpack their bags, but he just wanted to be lazy and pampered. “The pamphlet said you’d do that,” he says petulantly.  
.  
“Okay, I’ll unpack,” Sehun mumbles, rolling his eyes once more. “Don’t whine.”

“You’re unpleasant,” Jongdae says, taking a bite from one of the chocolates.

Baekhyun narrows his eyes because Jongdae doesn’t even sound annoyed at the brat. He’s not surprised. It takes a lot to annoy Jongdae, who is all around a cheerful person. 

“And you’re short,” Sehun replies, opening up Baekhyun’s bag.

Jongdae laughs. “Well, you know, good things in small packages and all that,” he says pleasantly. 

Sehun pauses and gives Jongdae a funny look. He looks like he’s about to say something else that’s rude, but he just turns back towards Baekhyun’s bag. “How long have the two of you been together?” 

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at Jongdae, who smiles at him. Had Jongdae’s weird cheeriness worked? Was the brat actually making an attempt at civil conversation?

“Eleven years,” Jongdae answers. “Baekhyun, come on, let’s try this champagne.”

Sehun opens a door to one of the closets and starts unpacking Baekhyun’s bag. “Eleven years is a long time to be with someone.” 

Baekhyun pops open the champagne and Jongdae yelps when he almost gets hit in the eye with the cork. 

“It’s okay when you like the person you’re with,” Jongdae says, filling up Baekhyun’s glass before he fills his own. 

Baekhyun takes a sip of his champagne and he decides he never wants to get off this ship. This is the best champagne he’s ever tasted. Not that he drinks champagne regularly. He’s tried it a few times and this was definitely the best one so far. 

“You know, it’s customary to make a toast,” Sehun points out.

Baekhyun is pretty sure it isn’t, but he turns to Jongdae anyway. “A toast to our engagement,” he says, grinning as he raises his glass.

Jongdae grins back as he clinks his glass to Baekhyun’s before he takes his own sip. 

Baekhyun takes another sip and assumes the strange, warm feeling that came over him was the champagne. 

“You’re _engaged_?” Sehun looks appalled. 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “Yes, do you have a problem with that?”

Sehun turns away, mumbling, “Just don’t know why anyone would agree to be married to you is all.” 

Jongdae laughs and chokes on his champagne.

⚓

There’s a Welcome Brunch and after deciding to go with a “His ring was too big so it’s being resized and I’m waiting until we can both wear our rings together” (Baekhyun and Jongdae respectively, because Jongdae insists it’s easier to believe a ring was too big for Baekhyun’s tiny fingers— and also it was his fault that they have to pretend to be engaged anyway) story for why neither of them are wearing engagement rings, they take on their first cruise event.

Jongdae is in heaven right away. Brunch includes his two favourite things: food and people. Baekhyun is just as pleased because: _free_ food. And getting to hold Jongdae’s hand, which Baekhyun is enjoying more than he should.

“Look.” Jongdae squeezes Baekhyun’s hand as he points to a table. “Chicken _and_ waffles. Brunch as it should be.” 

Jongdae is like a whirlwind as he moves around, saying hi to people and making sure his plate is never empty. He gets progressively louder once he discovers it’s an open bar. Not that Baekhyun is judging since he can hear himself getting louder as well. He and Jongdae with alcohol are usually never a good mix since they’re already pretty loud in general.

Jongdae keeps dragging him around every time he catches a glimpse of a type of food he hasn’t tried yet. That’s how they meet most of the guests— Jongdae accosts them to ask where they got whatever was on their plate. 

He’s currently asking a tall guy called Chanyeol where he got his mini-quiches. Chanyeol’s boyfriend, currently nameless, looks annoyed, but he had been sporting that look before they came over so Baekhyun doesn’t try to pull Jongdae away. 

“Over by the ice sculpture of the swan,” Chanyeol says sadly, as he tries to take a bite of his mini-quiche only to have it fall apart in his fingers. “All this food is too small! Everything is too small.”

“Sure, but you like small things, right?” Baekhyun winks as he nudges Chanyeol’s boyfriend, who is around the same height as Jongdae and Baekhyun. His smile grows larger when the boyfriend just glares at him.

“What’s your deal?” Jongdae asks the boyfriend, he holding out a stuffed mushroom towards Chanyeol, who glances at Baekhyun questioningly. 

Baekhyun shrugs. He doesn’t think he’d have too much of a problem with Jongdae feeding strangers even if they really were engaged. He supposes it doesn’t affect him because they’re just friends, but he can’t imagine dating Jongdae and being insecure about it. 

Chanyeol takes a bite of the mushroom and the unhappy look on his face melts away. “That’s so good,” he says, happily eating the rest of the mushroom when Jongdae offers it to him. 

“Why don’t you feed him?” Jongdae asks the boyfriend, who doesn’t seem bothered by the feeding either. 

“He’s mad,” Chanyeol explains when the boyfriend continues saying nothing. “The cruise was a surprise.” 

“I’m sorry, do you not like being pampered?” Baekhyun has seen pictures of some of the other rooms and maybe they weren’t as extravagant as the suite he and Jongdae has, but they were still nicer than his apartment.

The boyfriend stares at him coldly, before he finally says, “Being surprised by finding out your boyfriend has booked you on a swingers cruise is hardly the best surprise.”

“Hardly,” Baekhyun says, mimicking the boyfriend’s snotty attitude. 

Jongdae snickers before he says, “This isn’t a swingers cruise.” He gives Baekhyun a reluctant look. “Right?”

Baekhyun blinks because it would _so_ be like him not to just drag them to a couples cruise, but to a swingers cruise. 

“Not this one,” the boyfriend snaps. “The first one. We disembarked at the first port and then he found us another cruise, this one. A couples one.”

“I don’t see what the problem is.” Jongdae is now offering Chanyeol a bacon-wrapped scallop. 

“If you haven’t noticed, everything here is catered to couples. Would _you_ want to spend time together at sea with someone who accidentally booked you on a swingers cruise?”

“Are you so angry because no one wanted to switch partners with you? I would totally switch with you.” 

Baekhyun blinks in surprise because it sounds a lot like— 

“Are you hitting on my boyfriend?” 

“What?” Jongdae quickly withdraws his hand and Chanyeol ends up nipping at air. “I am happily engaged,” he says, drawing closer to Baekhyun. “I just meant that if I _had_ been on a swingers cruise…” 

“Okay, stop talking, honey,” Baekhyun says, “you’re making it worse.” 

The boyfriend gives them a strange look. “You’re engaged?”

“Wow, that’s great, congratulations,” Chanyeol says, giving his boyfriend a plaintive look. “How long have you—”

“Oh my gosh, Jongdae, Jongdae!” A girl they had met earlier— she had pointed out where the iced shrimp was— pushes her way through a throng of people to reach them. “Hey, I’m Seulgi,” she throws out at Chanyeol and his boyfriend before she turns to Jongdae and Baekhyun. “They’re going to play the Newlywed game tomorrow! You two have to sign up.”

“Okay, Baekhyun and I would kick ass at the Newlywed game,” Jongdae says. He surprises Baekhyun by reaching out for his hand, and Baekhyun really hadn’t been joking earlier— Jongdae was masterful at handholding. “But we’re not newlyweds.”

Seulgi shrugs. “So? Joohyun and I aren’t even engaged. The cruise director said anyone can sign up. Please? It’ll be so much fun. There’s a prize for the couple who wins.”

“Sign us up,” Baekhyun says before Jongdae can protest again. 

Seulgi beams at them before she turns to Chanyeol and the boyfriend. “What about you guys? Tall and Angry, what do you say?” She’s the only one who’s not surprised when the boyfriend agrees. 

“You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” Baekhyun says as Seulgi leaves, probably to go recruit more couples. He winks at the boyfriend again, just to irritate him since he’d been so offended when Baekhyun had done it earlier on. 

“I just want to beat the two of you,” the boyfriend says before he turns to Chanyeol, and his face actually softens. “Come on, Chanyeol, these two are tiring.”

“It was lovely meeting you,” Jongdae calls out after them. “Come on, Baek, I see someone with bruschetta.”

⚓

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae groans, wandering over to Baekhyun on the couch before he throws himself across Baekhyun’s lap. “I’m so full. Why did you make us leave? I saw _pancakes_ as we were leaving. How could I miss the pancakes?” He lets out a whine and kicks his feet a little.

“We left because you looked like you were going to throw up if you kept eating, and you refused to stop eating.” 

Jongdae looks up at him pitifully. “But there was so much food.” 

“That doesn’t mean you have to eat all of it.” Baekhyun shifts his knees so Jongdae can get more comfortable before he rests a hand on top of his head. It’s mostly quiet for a few minutes with Jongdae letting out a small whimper every once in awhile.

“Hey.” Jongdae lightly pokes Baekhyun in the ribs. “You’re not mad, are you?” 

Baekhyun’s hand freezes from where it had moved on to stroking Jongdae’s hair. “About?” 

“I wasn’t flirting with Chanyeol.” Jongdae is watching him, waiting for a reaction. 

“I know,” Baekhyun laughs, his hand resuming its earlier action. “But I wouldn’t be mad even if you were.” It sounds like a lie even as he says it because he _had_ been briefly annoyed.

“I wasn’t though,” Jongdae says. “I know I’m here with you, okay?” 

“Except that you’re not really,” Baekhyun says. “A couples cruise isn’t a great place to meet someone though.” He belated realizes that he had come off sounding annoyed, and he _wasn’t_ , not really. 

Jongdae rolls off Baekhyun’s lap and hops to his feet. “Gonna be sick,” he mumbles, before he rushes to the bathroom.

⚓

“I feel like my bones have melted,” Jongdae announces when he returns to their suite later on. He drops down on the bed where Baekhyun is sprawled out.

“Enjoy that aroma stone therapy, did you?” Baekhyun asks.

“Yes.” Jongdae wriggles his way up to Baekhyun. “There were oils in...places.” He raises a suggestive eyebrow when he says this and Baekhyun laughs. “You should have come with me,” he says, “it’s super relaxing.” 

“I was tired.” Baekhyun cringes when he says it because it’s not like Jongdae had gone rock climbing. “Sorry,” he laughs when Jongdae rolls his eyes. “Tired and obviously lazy.” 

“Next time then,” Jongdae says, turning on his back. He laughs when Baekhyun sighs. “What?” 

“Sorry I’m being lame,” Baekhyun answers. “I’m the one who took you on this trip, and got us into this messy fake-dating deal.” 

“Fake _engaged_ ,” Jongdae corrects. “I don’t mind. I can pretend my life is like some kind of romantic comedy.” 

“That only works if both people have feelings for each other,” Baekhyun says, “otherwise it’s just a sad depressing movie.” 

Jongdae is quiet for a few seconds before he says, “You’re sort of being an ass, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun sighs again and throws an arm over his eyes. “I know, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m being so cranky.”

“For the record,” Jongdae says, “there’s nothing wrong if the fake-dating ends with both people still being friends at the end of the movie. I’d still watch that movie.”

Baekhyun blinks because this is a completely different vibe than the one they’d had earlier. “Okay.” 

“Do you want to ask Sehun to bring us dinner? We can have an early night.”

Baekhyun moves his arm and turns his head to face Jongdae. “You don’t have to stay in just because I’m lame.”

Jongdae smiles at him, and Baekhyun wishes he knew what was going on with him; why was he both irritated that Jongdae was doing things without him but yet also refusing to join him? It had to be weariness, Baekhyun decides.

“I told you,” Jongdae says, “I’m here with you.” He gently bumps his head against Baekhyun’s before he sits up. “Plus Sehun has been M.I.A all evening. I saw him when I was coming back and I swear he ducked into a room to avoid me.”

⚓

Baekhyun wakes up to a pillow in the face.

“Wake up.” Jongdae whacks him with another pillow. “I don’t care how tired and lazy you are today. We’re hanging out together.”

“Okay, okay,” Baekhyun mumbles, squinting at the sunlight coming through the balcony doors. “Five more minutes.”

“No.” Jongdae’s voices changes and Baekhyun groans because he knows what’s coming. “Now. Baekhyun. Baekhyun, come on, there’s food that’s not being eaten. Think of all the pancakes I could be eating.” 

Baekhyun grumbles under his breath because he knows once Jongdae starts whining, he doesn’t stop until he gets what he wants. “Okay, I’m up,” he says, sitting up. He scowls at Jongdae’s perky face.

“Up and at ‘em, honey,” Jongdae coos, blowing a kiss at Baekhyun before he scrambles off the bed. 

Baekhyun sulks as he drags himself off the bed. He can’t believe he almost thought he might actually like Jongdae as more than just his loser best friend yesterday. 

He doesn’t feel quite as bitter after he’s had his shower and feels a little more like a human being again. 

“Why aren’t we just asking Sehun to bring us breakfast again?” 

“Because Sehun can’t bring us limitless pancakes.” Jongdae slips his hand into Baekhyun’s as they leave their suite, and Baekhyun admits it’s kind of cute the way Jongdae lightly squeezes his hand.

“How are you _still_ on about the pancakes?”

“Baekhyun, you robbed me of my pancake-eating experience yesterday,” Jongdae says coldly. “And you still haven’t apologized for it by the way.” 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes but he leans in and rests a hand on Jongdae’s stomach. “I’m sorry for robbing you of the joy of eating pancakes,” he says seriously. “ _This_ just seemed full yesterday.” He laughs when he feels Jongdae’s stomach rumble. “Jongdae, seriously? You ate so much at dinner yesterday.” 

“That was like a million hours ago,” Jongdae says, briefly using his free hand to lace his fingers with the ones Baekhyun has on his stomach before he pushes his hand away.

⚓

Baekhyun isn’t exactly pleased to see Chanyeol when he and Jongdae find themselves at the Serenity Haven. He doesn’t mean to tighten his grip on Jongdae’s hand when Chanyeol’s face lights up at seeing them.

“Hey, you’re smiling.” Jongdae grins at Chanyeol’s boyfriend. “I didn’t think you knew how to do that.”

“We made up,” Chanyeol says, throwing an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder. And okay, maybe Baekhyun loosens his grip a little when he sees that.

“Will you deign to tell us your name now?” Baekhyun asks. 

The boyfriend eyes him distastefully. “Kyungsoo.” He glances around at their surroundings and sighs heavily. “This place is ridiculous, isn’t it? It can’t just be me.”

“It’s so ritzy it’s tacky,” Jongdae agrees gleefully.

It really was. It was like someone had tried to build a garden inside this place. There was a lot of greenery, but Baekhyun didn’t know how much of it was real; if _any_ of it was real. There was soft spa music that he was sure was meant to be relaxing, but it was kind of creepy. 

“Look.” Jongdae looks like he might pass out from excitement when two women appear seemingly out of nowhere.

“Hello,” one says, smiling...well, smiling _serenely_. “Welcome to the Serenity Haven. Please come in and let us know how we may help you today.”

Chanyeol and Jongdae both let out almost identical squeals of excitement when the other lady hands out face towels and small water atomizers. 

“Don’t judge me if I pass out from excitement,” Jongdae whispers. “This is both the coolest and lamest thing ever.”

“I am totally going to judge you,” Baekhyun says.

Jongdae squeezes his arm tight. “I love this,” he says dreamily, as the four of them follow the two ladies, _tranquility stewards_ , Baekhyun guesses. “And I love _you_.” 

Baekhyun snorts as Jongdae happily trails after the ladies, remembering how he’d thought the same thing when he claimed their tickets.

⚓

It looked like Seulgi had managed to convince almost every couple on the cruise to join the Newlywed Game. Even _Sehun_ played, although he didn’t fare well. His boyfriend, Jongin, gets a lot of the answers right, but Sehun didn’t seem as invested into game.

Junmyeon and his boyfriend, Minho (Junmyeon says he’s was scuba diver instructor, but Baekhyun swears he has to be a male model or something) are the emcees and Baekhyun is impressed at how competitive some of the couples are. 

Kyungsoo, for all his threats about beating them, doesn’t seem to try very hard. Baekhyun thinks maybe even Sehun had tried harder. Chanyeol, on the other hard, was super competitive, yelling out at answers when he got too excited. It’s no surprise that they win, but Baekhyun’s amused at how in sync the two of them are— or at least Chanyeol was in tuned to what Kyungsoo was like— when Kyungsoo hadn’t even been speaking to him yesterday.

Baekhyun and Jongdae win third place. He knew they would do well, he just didn’t think they’d do _this_ well. But he supposes he shouldn’t be surprised. They hadn’t been lying when they said they had known each other for years.

He realizes that he probably wouldn’t have been able to answer a lot of these questions about most of his boyfriends. He wouldn’t which candy bar his last boyfriend would use to describe their love life, or which movie star he wanted to be married to or even what his dream job would be.

But he knew all these things about Jongdae, and they had written down a lot of the same answers, even surprisingly, the candy bar one considering they didn’t have a love life. He knew _Jongdae_.

He looks over to where Jongdae is laughing about something with Seulgi, and he looks happy and relaxed. He hadn’t even seemed stressed when they were playing the game, even though Baekhyun knew he liked winning too. But he knows Baekhyun just as well as Baekhyun knows him. 

He smiles when Jongdae turns to him and reaches out for his hand. 

“You okay?” Jongdae asks quietly. “You looked like you were gone for a moment.” 

“Nope,” Baekhyun says, brushing a thumb over Jongdae’s wrist before he takes his hand. “I’m here with you, remember?”

⚓

“The prize for third place is a picnic on the top deck lawn?” Jongdae stretches out on their bed laughing. “That sounds amazing. Wonder what Chanyeol and Kyungsoo won if third prize is so great.”

“Don’t get too excited,” Baekhyun says joining Jongdae on the bed. “Sehun has to set it up so keep your expectations low.” 

“I don’t care.” Jongdae sighs happily as he closes his eyes. “I had so much fun today, Baek. Seriously, thanks for taking me along on this trip.”

“Who else would I have brought on this trip? I wouldn’t have half this much fun if you weren’t here.” 

Jongdae laughs quietly. “Yeah, I _am_ awesome.”

Baekhyun inches closer and watches Jongdae’s relaxed expression carefully as their hands brush together but it doesn’t change. He doesn’t know why he’s suddenly nervous, they’ve held hands before; in fact Baekhyun thinks he’s getting pretty masterful at handholding too. But they usually only hold hands when they’re around other people or when they’re on their way out. He chickens out and settles for hooking their little fingers together.

Jongdae lets out a small sound of contentment. “Hey, Baek.”

“Hmm?” Baekhyun looks away before Jongdae can open his eyes, but he doesn’t. 

Jongdae shifts his hand so he can intertwine all their fingers. “Your birthday present is nowhere as great as this.”

Baekhyun laughs, squeezing Jongdae’s hand. “I don’t expect it to be.”

“Wow, that was rude.” Jongdae opens his eyes and pretends to be offended. “I didn’t say you weren’t going to like it,” he says, jostling their shoulders. 

“Sehun told me he saw it when he was unpacking your stuff. He wouldn’t tell me what it is but he said it was stupid.”

“He’s not wrong,” Jongdae laughs. “But that still doesn’t mean you’re not going to like it.” 

“Are you saying I like stupid things?”

“Extremely stupid things.” 

Baekhyun spitefully drags a nail across one of Jongdae’s fingers. “I like you, so I guess I can’t argue with that.”

Jongdae laughs. “Touché,” he says, moving to lean his head against Baekhyun’s shoulder.

⚓

Baekhyun has no idea how he’s going to go back to his regular life once this cruise is over. He’s getting used to being spoiled and pampered. This, he is convinced, is how life is supposed to be.

He and Jongdae have been spending so much time at the Serenity Haven that most of the tranquility stewards know them. In fact, they’ve been assigned their own tranquility steward, Suzy, who is much better at pampering them than Sehun is. Jongdae _loves_ Suzy, and Baekhyun can only assume the feeling is mutual since they never stop talking when they’re together. 

Sometimes they’re joined by Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, but more often than not, those two are doing too many active things like sky-riding or scaling the ropes course. Table tennis and bowling are activities that are more Baekhyun and Jongdae’s speed, but they become bored with how competitive Chanyeol gets. Baekhyun finds himself thinking, more than once, that he’s so glad that Jongdae is so dedicated to relaxing and doing simpler things like sipping milkshakes by the pool. 

Baekhyun is pretty sure that he and Jongdae would have just sat around being catered to if Seulgi and Joohyun weren’t always insisting they join them for things like going to a magic show and enjoying live music at the piano bar. Baekhyun enjoys all these things, but he thinks Seulgi’s best idea is when she tells them to catch the sunset at least once. 

“You have to do it,” Seulgi insists. “When else are you going to get a chance to enjoy the sunset while you’re at sea?”

“But not with us,” Joohyun says. “We love hanging out with the two of you, but that’s too romantic and I don’t want you around for that.” 

“Not that you want us around for that either,” Seulgi says, waggling her eyebrows playfully until Joohyun swatted at her.

Baekhyun is kind of surprised that Jongdae agrees to check it out. “I thought you’d find it cheesy.”

“I do,” Jongdae says, “but Seulgi’s right. When are we ever going to get a chance to do this again?” 

It ends up being sort of nice. Baekhyun isn’t really into nature and most of the time, his opinion of sunsets is that there will be one the next day so he’s never made an attempt to catch one. He doesn’t think sunsets are anything particularly interesting, but even he has to admit that this experience is something else all together.

“Wow.” Jongdae lets out a long breath and that’s when Baekhyun realizes he’s been holding in his own breath too. 

“Are they all this pretty?” Baekhyun breathes out. 

Jongdae laughs and Baekhyun doesn’t know if it’s because he is _really_ feeling this sunset but he swears his laugh sounds warmer. “I don’t know,” he answers, “I don’t think I’ve caught too many sunsets.” 

“Glad we caught this one.” 

“Yeah, me too.” Jongdae takes a step closer and slips his hand into Baekhyun’s. 

Baekhyun thinks about how this would be the part of the movie where the couple that are pretending to date would start to have feelings for each other, but he didn’t need the sunset.

So yeah, Baekhyun has no idea how he’s going to go back to his regular life in three days. Back to his job, back to his apartment and back to being just friends with Jongdae.

⚓

They weren’t planning on participating for Karaoke Night, they really weren’t. They were enjoying sitting at the lounge and watching couples attempt to do their own renditions of classic songs. Or okay, classic pop songs. Seulgi and Joohyun actually did a pretty good version of Stuck With You. And even Junmyeon and his boyfriend sang a song, although their version of Endless Love felt kind of uncomfortable.

It was when Chanyeol and Kyungsoo got on stage that Baekhyun sat up straight.

“Hey, we have to get up there,” he says as Chanyeol and Kyungsoo try to pick a song. 

Jongdae pauses mid-bite from his canapé. “Eww, why? We are really drunk. You think I can read the lyrics of a song from a screen? I’ve had like twenty mimosa.” He pauses again and laughs. “Did I say mimosa? Twenty _mimosa_?” He breaks into laughter and clearly, he really is pretty drunk. 

“Okay, you’ve only had seven,” Baekhyun says, reaching out to steady Jongdae when he leans back and almost falls off. “But don’t you want to beat them at least once?” 

“Not really,” Jongdae says, popping the rest of the canapé into his mouth. “I feel like Chanyeol would be a terrible loser.” 

“Who cares? We’re not the ones who have to deal with him after.” 

Jongdae sighs as familiar opening notes start up. “Baekhyun, I’m serious. I’m pretty drunk. You want to put me on a stage in front of people? You know I overdo it when I’m drunk and the centre of attention.” 

Yes, Baekhyun knows. Give Jongdae an audience and he feels like they are entitled to the Coyote Ugly experience— not a pleasant experience for anyone because he becomes even clumsier than usual. Baekhyun scrunches up his face when he recognizes the song. They were singing a Bruno Mars song? Okay, _anyone_ could sound good singing a Bruno Mars song. “Jongdae, seriously—”

“Oh my god.” Jongdae laughs loudly and almost spills his drink over. “Are they singing Just the Way You Are? Okay, you’re right. They can’t just sing this tame song that even our cat could sing.” 

Baekhyun blinks. “We don’t have a cat.” 

Jongdae blinks back at him, before he— Baekhyun swears to him later that he does this even though Jongdae refuses to believe him— _giggles_. “Oh yeah, I told Joohyun we have a cat.” 

Baekhyun laughs. _”Why?”_

Jongdae shrugs. “We seem like a cat couple, don’t we? I think we should totally get a cat when we get back on land. We can name it…okay, I can’t think of any cat names right now. But don’t you think we should have a cat?” 

Baekhyun tries not to dwell on this thought because co-owning a cat with Jongdae does seem kind of nice. Even if Jongdae is so drunk right now that he can’t seem to remember that they’re not actually a couple. 

Jongdae cuts off from his own train of thought. “I know what song we can sing!”

⚓

Baekhyun doesn’t like to brag or anything, but he and Jongdae do a really good job. Jongdae got sort of loud towards the end, but Don’t Stop Believing is supposed to be inspiring so he doesn’t think anyone minds.

They get a higher score than Chanyeol and Kyungsoo did, and even though it’s a score from a machine, Baekhyun takes his little victories where he can. 

Chanyeol is surprisingly pleasant about it. He hugs the two of them tight and he sounds a little weepy as he whispers, “You guys were amazing.” Baekhyun suspects he’s probably just as drunk as Jongdae. Maybe drunker. 

“Yes, because it’s so hard to sing a song from Glee,” Kyungsoo mutters, resting a steadying hand on Chanyeol’s back when he stumbles. 

Jongdae laughs loudly. He’s become louder since they stopped singing. “You not only sang a Bruno Mars song, you sang the _easiest_ Bruno Mars song.” 

“Don’t fight,” Chanyeol says sleepily, tugging on Kyungsoo’s shirt. “They were good, babe. Don’t be a sore loser.”

“Yeah, _babe_.” Baekhyun grins and offers him another wink. “Be a gracious winner.”

Kyungsoo’s lips set in a tight line and Baekhyun thinks he’s going to leave but he manages to grit out, “Good job,” before he steers Chanyeol away. 

“Hey.” Jongdae put his arm around Baekhyun’s waist as he pulls him in close. “I thought of something.”

This is close even for the two of them. Baekhyun can feel Jongdae’s breath against his neck. “Yeah?” 

“Mm hmm.” It’s not an unpleasant feeling, having Jongdae’s mouth this close to his neck. “We should name him Finn.” 

Baekhyun frowns. “What?”

“Our cat,” Jongdae mumbles and this time his lips really do move against Baekhyun’s neck. “We should name our cat Finn.” 

Then he promptly passes out against Baekhyun’s shoulder.

⚓

He only manages to get Jongdae back to their suite because Seulgi helps him. He’s pretty sure she carries most of Jongdae’s weight but she doesn’t say anything.

For the record, Baekhyun _technically_ owes Jongdae a lot for all the times he’s taken care of him when he was drunk before. Especially if trying to keep Jongdae from drowning in the toilet bowl as he throws up the contents of his stomach is anything to go by. Baekhyun tries to be sympathetic even though he kind of feels like throwing up too.

“I’m sorry,” Jongdae mumbles pathetically. “You don’t have to stay here, I know you’re a sympathetic…thrower upper.” 

Baekhyun sits down beside him because he can’t _leave_ Jongdae there, even if he’s right. “No, it’s fine,” he says, rubbing circles along Jongdae’s back because he remembers Jongdae doing the same thing for him. 

“No, this is really gross.” 

Baekhyun almost laughs because Jongdae sounds a little weepy now. Maybe he caught Chanyeol’s drunk-weepines syndrome. “No,” he says softly. “I told you, I’m here with you.” 

Jongdae laughs but with the new weepy sounds, he sounds just short of hysterical. He starts blindly reaching out with his hand and Baekhyun glances around to see what he’s searching for. 

“What are you—”

“Wanna hold your hand.” 

Baekhyun laughs and he takes Jongdae’s hand in his. “Don’t throw up on my hand.” 

It’s quiet for a few minutes and just when Baekhyun is going to check if Jongdae has fallen asleep with his cheek against the toilet bowl, he hears him. “Baekhyunnie.”

Baekhyun lifts an eyebrow because Jongdae only calls him that when he’s really sad. They’ve known each other for eleven years, and he’s only ever called him that three times. “What’s wrong?”

“This shouldn’t have happened.” 

“What, you getting drunk? I think an open bar meant one of us was going to be in this position at some point during this trip. I’m surprised that we actually made it this far without a drunken escapade to be honest.”

Jongdae huffs. “You don’t get it,” he whines

“What don’t I get?” 

Jongdae lets go of his hand and starts throwing up again and they both forget what they were talking about.

⚓

Jongdae seems even perkier than usual in the morning, except Baekhyun can tell something’s a little off.

“What do you want to do today?” Baekhyun asks. He’s still in bed, very reluctant to drag himself out. He wonders if Jongdae will let them stay in and get Sehun to bring them breakfast since it’s his birthday. People shouldn’t be expected to wake up early on their birthdays, especially if they’re on vacation. 

“I actually thought I’d try the thalassotherapy pool today,” Jongdae says, slipping on his shoes. “Sehun said it’s less crowded before ten.”

“Okay, that sounds nice. Give me a few minutes to get ready.” Baekhyun starts to get out of bed but Jongdae stops him.

“It’s your birthday,” Jongdae says when Baekhyun gives him a confused look. “You should sleep in. Get Sehun to bring you breakfast.”

This is exactly what Baekhyun wants to do, except he wanted Jongdae to be there. 

“You don’t want me to come?” 

Jongdae gives him a smile that seems sincere. “You should just relax. We have the whole rest of the day to spend together.” He sits down next to Baekhyun on the bed. “We can get Sehun to arrange our picnic today. I can give you your gift then.” 

Baekhyun brushes his fingers against Jongdae’s briefly. “Are we okay?”

A strange look passes across Jongdae’s face but it’s gone in a flash. “Yeah, of course we are.” He leans in and to pull Baekhyun into a hug. “I’ll see you later, okay? Just relax in bed. Boss Sehun around a bit.”

“Like he’ll listen.”

⚓

Baekhyun is too restless to stay in his room, and Sehun is more than happy to be dismissed for the morning. He heads to the pool because he figures at least he can get some fresh air while he lazes around.

“Hey, it’s the birthday boy.” Joohyun drops into the chaise next to him, wishing him a happy birthday. “Where’s Jongdae? Still hung over?” 

“No, he’s trying out the thalassotherapy pool. He left early.” 

Joohyun slides her sunglasses on as she stretches out. “That thing is _great_. You’re probably not going to see him for another few hours.” 

Baekhyun has to try hard not scowl at that. He doesn’t know why Jongdae is avoiding him. And on his _birthday_. Was he embarrassed about last night? Baekhyun doesn’t know why he would be, they’ve certainly seen each other in worse situations. 

“Where’s Seulgi?”

“Sleeping in. She looked really comfortable all curled up, didn’t have the heart to wake her up.” Joohyun studies him for a few moments, and finally she asks, ““Can I ask you something?” 

“Yeah, go for it.” 

“How did you propose to Jongdae? You were the one who proposed, right? I think I remember that when we met the two of you.” 

Baekhyun blinks at that because he and Jongdae have never come up with a story for that one, although now that he thinks about it, they should have. It’s amazing they’ve made it this far without being asked that question.

“Um. It was very sudden actually.” That’s not really a lie, he thinks.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean...I didn’t really plan it or anything. It wasn’t anything elaborate.” 

Joohyun lifts her sunglasses up a little. “So you guys were just hanging out one day and you just decided to propose?” 

“Uh, yeah, basically.” Baekhyun hopes she can’t tell he’s lying. 

“Wow. You must really love him.” She slides her sunglasses back down.

“He’s all right,” Baekhyun mutters, half-heartedly. 

Joohyun laughs. “Well, _he_ really likes _you_ at least.” 

Baekhyun glances at her and she looks so _certain_ that he almost wants to tell her everything. “I just feel like...like maybe I like him more than he likes me,” is what he ends up saying. 

Joohyun sits up and takes off her sunglasses completely. “No way, are you kidding?” She reaches out and places a hand on his knee. “Baekhyun, do you really think that?” 

Why had he even said anything? They’re not even dating. Worrying about this and telling Joohyun about it is pointless.

“Hey.” She taps his knee to get his full attention. “Seulgi always loves me, even when I’m not being the best version of myself. But sometimes, when I do something right, when she’s really happy with me, she gets this sort of dopey look on her face. Kind of like an adoring puppy? Jongdae looks at you with dopey puppy looks a lot.” She nods when Baekhyun doesn’t react. “A _lot_.” 

“We’re not even dating,” Baekhyun blurts out.

Joohyun stares at him. “What?” 

He glances around to make sure Junmyeon isn’t around and ends up telling her everything. It hasn’t been hard pretending to be engaged to Jongdae. In fact, he’d been enjoying it up until today when Jongdae started being weird and it’s stressing Baekhyun out, because he’s fine with going back to being just friends with Jongdae, as long as he has Jongdae in his life. He can’t stand the idea of this fake-engaged scheme messing up their friendship. And for what? Eleven days of being spoiled to ruin eleven years of friendship. 

“Oh my god, I’m the pining lead in the romantic comedy,” he moans. “The one with the unrequited feelings.” 

Joohyun only laughs. “I can’t believe you two aren’t engaged! You’re so in sync.”

“We’re best friends.” 

“You should ask him out,” Joohyun says. “Ask him out for real. Be brave, Baekhyun. I wasn’t lying about the dopey puppy looks. Don’t be the annoying lead who just pines and never says anything until the end.”

⚓

Jongdae definitely seems more like himself when he returns.

“Did the thalassotherapy pool suck away all your negative vibes that you were sporting this morning?” Baekhyun asks pointedly.

“Every last one of them,” Jongdae says cheerfully. He smiles when he sees Baekhyun glaring at him. “Okay, I’m sorry I was weird earlier.” 

Baekhyun sniffles indignantly. “Are you going to tell me why you were being weird?” 

Jongdae’s smile fades slightly. “Um, it was just...last night was really…” He trails off and Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, waiting. “Did I say anything?” 

Baekhyun snorts. “Yeah, you said we should get a cat and name it Finn.” 

Jongdae blinks. “I said we should get a cat?” 

Baekhyun nods. “I’m not completely opposed to the idea.” 

Jongdae gives him a funny look and asks, “That’s it? I didn’t say anything else?” 

“Not that I can think of. Why? What do you think you said?” 

“Did I _do_ anything?” Jongdae asks, completely ignoring his question.

Baekhyun lets out a huff of impatience. “Jongdae, what’s going on? What do you think you said or did that made you think I could possibly not be able to look you in the face today?” 

Jongdae groans and throws himself on the bed. He whines a little before he covers his face with both his arms. 

This was very unnecessarily dramatic to Baekhyun, but he just follows suit and lies down next to him. “Jongdae,” he says quietly. “Come on.” 

Jongdae lets out another groan before he says, “I didn’t....I didn’t kiss you, did I?” 

Baekhyun freezes and he must have been silent for too long because Jongdae lowers his arms and looks over at him. 

“I did, oh my god,” he wails, covering his face again. 

Baekhyun reaches out to stop him. “You didn’t,” he says laughing. “You just kind of...slobbered against my neck, that’s all.” 

Jongdae looks at him uncertainly. “That’s it?” 

Baekhyun nods. “But...did you…did you want to kiss me?” Oh my god, he can’t believe how _lame_ he’s being. Joohyun would not approve. Jongdae looks like he’s still trying to process the question, so Baekhyun quickly adds, “Because I want to kiss you.” 

He knows that realistically, probably only a second passes before Jongdae replies, but it feels like a _really long second_. It doesn’t help that Jongdae’s reply is completely unhelpful. 

“Oh my god, are we having our romantic comedy epiphany?”

Baekhyun groans. “I’m going to kill you.” 

“No, no, don’t kill me,” Jongdae says, turning on his side to face him. “Let’s do the kissing thing.” 

Baekhyun makes an indecipherable sound because he’s laughing and groaning. “No, the moment is totally ruined.”

“No,” Jongdae whines, his fingers curling into Baekhyun’s shirt. “It’s your birthday and we’re at sea. Even I can’t ruin this moment.” 

“Maybe if you just stopped talking for a bit.” 

“I can do that!” Jongdae nods his head as if to prove his point. “Just tell me how long ‘a bit’ is? Is it a few seconds, a few min—”

Oh my god, he’s ridiculous, Baekhyun thinks, before he just goes for it and cuts off Jongdae mid-sentence with a kiss.

First kisses, or at least, first kisses in situations like this, should probably be tentative, and maybe if it was someone else, it would have been a more tentative kiss. But it’s Jongdae, and okay, his mouth was open anyway so it’s not like Baekhyun is going to not take the opportunity. 

Jongdae has a really nice mouth, and Baekhyun is glad he hadn’t wasted their first kiss being careful, but Jongdae is really, _really_ good with his tongue. How have they been friends for eleven years without Baekhyun knowing how great Jongdae is with his tongue?

“So much better than your neck slobbering,” Baekhyun mumbles when they pull away. “But you should definitely try that again.”

Jongdae looks a little dazed and...dopey. It’s the dopey puppy look! 

Baekhyun grins as he leans to kiss the corner of Jongdae’s mouth. “That was some masterful kissing, Jongdae.” 

Jongdae laughs, reaching down for Baekhyun’s hand. “Only the best for my fiancé.” 

“Boyfriend.” 

“Nah, too good for just a boyfriend. I think I’m going to have to downgrade the kissing, you don’t deserve that kind of—”

“Jongdae, _seriously_ ,” Baekhyun laughs as he rolls over on top of Jongdae. “Is kissing you the only way to shut you up?”

⚓

Sehun does a surprisingly good job setting up their picnic. Or maybe Baekhyun is just too content to care properly about whether or not Sehun has done well.

“Where’s my present?”

“Thought I was your present,” Jongdae says, flashing his teeth at him. 

“No, this morning I woke up with a fiancé and now I’ve been downgraded to a boyfriend. You are definitely not present-worthy.” 

“Pretty sure a real boyfriend beats out a fake fiancé but what do I know?” Jongdae hands over the paper gift bag he’d carried up to the top deck.

Baekhyun gleefully snatches at the bag and his jaw drops when he sees what’s inside. “Sehun was right, this is incredibly stupid.” 

“Trust me, I know.” 

“I love it!” Baekhyun knows he’s yelling but he’s so excited. 

“You’re welcome,” Jongdae says, looking amused. 

“ _How_ did you get this?” Baekhyun rips off the plastic packaging and he can’t believe it’s all there! The reed diffusers, the tea lights, even the huge tumbler candle. “I looked _everywhere_ for this.” 

“Okay, can I just say,” Jongdae says, sounding very annoyed, “that ‘warm feelings in an isolated mountain cabin on a snowy evening between two fir trees’ is not an actual scent? I have no idea why you were so obsessed on getting your hands on this.” 

“The candle companies wouldn’t sell this limited edition set if it wasn’t a real scent,” Baekhyun says coldly. 

“I bet it just smells like vanilla,” Jongdae says, “and second of all, you will not _believe_ how crazy people are about this thing! I found it on eBay and the bid was before I won was five hundred dollars.” 

Baekhyun stares at him. “ _You’re_ thundercat21?” 

Jongdae narrows his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re gladeairwickohmy.” When Baekhyun doesn’t answer, he huffs. “Baekhyun, you are _such a dork_ , those aren’t even candles. Were you seriously going to pay _five hundred_ dollars for a candle set?” 

“You paid five hundred and one!”

“Because it was for you!” Jongdae throws his hands up. “I would never pay that much for myself.”

Baekhyun hugs the candle set close to himself. “Why’d you even buy it then? You obviously think it’s stupid.”

Jongdae gives him a surprised look. “Because you wanted it, and you were going crazy looking for it.” 

Baekhyun sets the gift down and reaches out for Jongdae. “Thank you. I love it. I know you know that already, but I really do appreciate it. Masterful gift-giving.” 

Jongdae’s still laughing when Baekhyun kisses him.


End file.
